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Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. — Petrobras
Location: Rio de Janeiro, State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Founder: Getúlio Vargas Founded: October 3rd, 1953 Key People: Roberto Castello Branco (CEO) Employees: 68,829 More About The Manufacturer: Petrobras was created in 1953 under the government of Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas with the slogan "The Oil is Ours" (Portuguese: "O petróleo é nosso"). It was given a legal monopoly in Brazil. In 1953, Brazil produced only 2,700 barrels of oil per day. In 1961, the company's REDUC refinery began operations near Rio de Janeiro, and in 1963, its Cenpes research center opened in Rio de Janeiro; it remains one of the world's largest centers dedicated to energy research. In 1967, the company established Petrobras Quimica S.A ("Petroquisa"), a subsidiary focused on petrochemicals and the conversion of naphtha into ethene. Petrobras had begun processing oil shale in 1953, developing the Petrosix technology for extracting oil from oil shale. It began using an industrial-size retort to process shale in the 1990s. In 2006, Petrobras said that their industrial retort had the capacity to process 260 tonnes/hour of oil shale. In 1961, Petrobras geologist Walter K. Link published Link's memorandum, which implied that the company was better off exploring offshore instead of onshore. In 1963, Petrobras discovered the Recôncavo baiano pt and Carmópolis oil fields. The company's growth was halted by the 1973 oil crisis. The entire country was affected, and the "Brazilian miracle", a period when annual GDP growth exceeded 10%, ended. Petrobras nearly went bankrupt. In 1974, the company discovered an oil field in the Campos Basin. This discovery boosted its finances and helped it restructure nationwide. In 1975, the Brazilian Government temporarily allowed foreign operators into Brazil, and Petrobras signed exploration contracts with foreign companies for oilfields in Brazil. The company was affected by the 1979 energy crisis, although not nearly as badly as in 1973. In 1994, Petrobras put the Petrobras 36, the world's largest oil platform, into service. It sank after an explosion in 2001 and was a complete loss. In 1997, the government approved Law N.9.478, which broke Petrobras's monopoly and allowed competition in Brazil's oilfields, and also created the national petroleum agency Agência Nacional do Petróleo, (ANP) responsible for the regulation and supervision of the petroleum industry, and the National Council of Energy Policies, a public agency responsible for developing public energy policy. In 1999, the National Petroleum Agency signed agreements with other companies, ending the company's monopoly. In 1997, Petrobras reached the production milestone of 1 million barrels (160,000 m3) per day. The company also executed agreements with other Latin American governments and began operations outside Brazil. In 2000, Petrobras set a world record for oil exploration in deep waters, reaching a depth of 1,877 meters (6,158 ft) below sea level. In 2002, Petrobras acquired the Argentine company Perez Companc Energía (PECOM Energía S.A.) from the Perez Companc Family Group es and its family foundation for $1.18 billion. This acquisition included assets in Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, 1.1 billion barrels of crude oil reserves and production of 181 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (1,110,000 GJ) per day. In 2003, on its 50-year anniversary, Petrobras surpassed 2 million barrels of oil equivalent (12,000,000 GJ) of daily production. On 1 May 2006, after the Bolivian gas conflict, Bolivia's president Evo Morales announced the nationalization of all gas and oil fields in the country and ordered the occupation of all fields by the Bolivian Army. On 4 May 2006, Petrobras cancelled a major future investment plan in Bolivia as a result. The Bolivian government demanded an increase in royalty payments from foreign petroleum companies to 82%, but eventually settled for a 50% royalty interest. In 2005, Petrobras announced a joint venture with Nippon Alcohol Hanbai KK to sell Brazilian ethanol to Japan, called Brazil-Japan Ethanol. On 21 April 2006, the company started production on the P-50 oil platform in the Albacora East field at Campos Basin, which made Brazil self-sufficient in oil production. By November 2015, the company had accumulated $128 billion in debt, 84% of it denominated in foreign currencies. In 2007, Petrobras inaugurated the Petrobras 52 Oil Platform. The 52 is the biggest Brazilian oil platform and the third-biggest in the world. In 2007 and 2008, Petrobras made several major oil discoveries including the Lula oil field (formerly known as the Tupi field), the Jupiter field, and the Sugar Loaf field, all in the Santos Basin, 300 km off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. The oil fields were discovered by partnerships that include Petrobras, Royal Dutch Shell, and Galp Energia. However, estimates for the reserves of these new fields varied widely. The P-51 Platform, the first semisubmersible platform built entirely in Brazil, capable of producing up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day, started production in the Campos Basin in January 2009, and in February 2009, China agreed to loan Petrobras US$10 billion in exchange for a supply of 60,000-100,000 barrels of oil per day to a subsidiary of Sinopec and 40,000-60,000 barrels of oil per day to PetroChina. In August 2009, Petrobras acquired ExxonMobil's Esso assets in Chile for US$400 million. In September 2010, Petrobras completed a US$70 billion share offering, the largest share offering in history, to be used to develop newly discovered oil fields.36 In 2012, Petrobras surrendered permits to explore offshore in New Zealand. In July 2013, a worker strike action shut down production at several of the company's oil platforms. In September 2013, Petrobras sold eleven onshore exploration and production blocks in Colombia to Perenco for US$380 million. In September 2013 Organizações Globo reported on national television that the US government had been spying on Petrobras. This information was reportedly provided by US journalist Glenn Greenwald. Petrobras announced that it was investing R$21 billion over five years to improve its data security. In 2014, the company sold its assets in Peru to PetroChina for US$2.6 billion. Also in 2014, Petrobras set a new company record for an average daily production of 2.863 million barrels of oil equivalent (17,520,000 GJ). In January 2020, Petroleo Brasileiro stated that it ended all of its business in Africa after completing the sale of a 50% stake in Petrobras Oil & Gas BV. In terms of motorsport, Petrobas has also been secondary sponsors for the Williams F1 team of the late 90s and early 2000's making their presence in iRacing known to people that race in throwback paint schemes. Category:South American Fuel Suppliers Category:Brazilian Fuel Suppliers Category:Fuel Suppliers